Kheer Recipe (Indian Rice Pudding)

Small white dessert bowl filled with cardamom spiced Indian rice pudding and garnished with crushed pistachios and raisins.

4.73 from 22 votes

Kheer Recipe (Indian Rice Pudding)

Kheer is a subtly sweet, creamy, and deliciously aromatic Indian dessert popular throughout India. I made this recipe using basmati rice, but jasmine rice would make a fantastic alternative.

Prep Time5

Cook Time1

Total Time1 5

Servings: servings

Calories: 284kcal

Chef: Jessica Randhawa

Ingredients

▢ ¼ cup basmati rice - or other long-grain rice
▢ 4 cups milk - use whole milk for best creamiest results
▢ ¼ cup water
▢ 6 tablespoon granulated sugar - (reduce to 4 tablespoons for a less sweetened kheer)
▢ ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
▢ ¼ cup cashews - chopped
▢ ¼ cup pistachios - chopped
▢ raisins or dried cranberries - to garnish
▢ 1 tablespoon ghee

Instructions

Transfer the rice to a small bowl and fill with cold water. Drain the starchy water through a fine-mesh strainer. Repeat rinsing and draining until the water runs nearly clear. Drain completely.
Add the water and milk to a large, heavy-bottomed pot set over high heat. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring often to prevent the milk from burning.
Reduce heat to medium. Add the rice. Cook the rice, stirring often, until the rice is soft and completely cooked.
Stir in the desired amount of sugar and cardamom powder. Continue to cook, stirring often, until the kheer has thickened to the desired consistency. (note - kheer will continue to thicken as it cools)
In the last 5 minutes or so of cooking, stir in the nuts and raisins, if desired, or leave them out and add them as a garnish.
Remove from heat and serve warm, or allow to cool and serve chilled.

Notes

For best results, use whole milk to make this kheer recipe. Low-fat milk is too watery.
Optional: add the ghee directly to your kheer after it's finished cooking or toast the cashew nuts in 1 tablespoon of ghee over medium heat until golden.
To flavor your kheer with a bit of saffron, carefully crush your saffron threads and transfer to a small bowl filled with 2-3 tablespoons of warm milk. Mix to combine. Add it to the kheer after it has been cooking for approximately 25-30 minutes.
If you don't have any ground cardamom, substitute using 2-3 whole green cardamom pods. Add them directly to the milk and rice when cooking. Remove before serving.
Kheer is more like porridge in texture than it is pudding. It is not super thick, but it also shouldn't be super runny- somewhere in between.

Nutrition

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